Dragons' Key: Blank Points
by Child Of The West Wind
Summary: Whilst trying to puzzle out the riddle of the Keyblade Dragon, the Masters muster together to learn and understand more about him. It will be trickier than they initially thought, but there's still time to hang out with friends, discuss the future, and in the mean time maybe even sing a song.


**AN: Hello, everyone! I had hoped to have got the next story in this arc off the ground long before now, but my health took a downturn and I haven't got half as much done as I would have liked in the meantime. So, I thought I'd take a leaf out of Square Enix's book and give you a Blank Points in the mean time while I muster the creative juices into some semblance of order ;) the following events occur sometime in late spring, a couple of months or so before the next story is supposed to start.**

 **For any new readers there are quite a few OCs knocking around and back story so I suggest reading 'The Dragons' Key' first. Also, I totally don't own this song ;)**

 **And lastly, Thank you to** HeartofFyrwinde **for the proof reading and the idea bouncing!**

 _ **Blank Points**_

"Okay," Lynn said, carefully unravelling a cable as she walked backwards across the large hall toward Leo, carefully picking her way over a network of cables strewn across the floor. "There we go. Now then, all you have to do is bite down on this when I give the word, a'right?" she brandished a short fat pole with pressure pads attached at regular intervals, to which she connected another cable.

"So what's this for again?" Terra asked, inspecting another rod with its sensors disassembled all over the table.

Lynn handed the pole to Mel and walked back to the computer console that had been set up on a very wobbly table against a wall, smacking Terra's hands away from the sensitive equipment as she passed by. "Trying to get a gauge on just how powerful those magnificent jaws of his are." She sat down in the chair she had 'appropriated' from one of the studies upstairs and laboriously stretched her arms above her, head thrown back as she stretched out her spine. Then she flopped back in the chair with a satisfied look before she started typing into the computer and bringing up the necessary programs to record the data. "We could probably guesstimate it ourselves if we had those damn x-rays…"

"Well it's not Leo's fault the x-ray machine's too small." Ven said, folding his arms stoically. He smiled when Leo pressed his nose into his hair and exhaled, before sliding his snout over Ven's shoulder where his jaw received a few loving scratches. The young dragon hummed contentedly at the contact, and twisted his head to one side so he could easily lick Ven's cheek.

"How inconsiderate of the engineers who built it, not to take into account for a dirty great dragon needing his head lookin' at." Rhiannon said cynically, inspecting a wrench closely with a look of boredom. If it didn't involve gummi ships, she usually didn't care to know in detail when it came to mechanics and computers.

"Nah, was probably lab techies what built it. _Anyway_ ," Lynn waved the notion away impatiently. "Let's just give the computer a sec to sort its life out…"

"I had thought Kyo would be here for this," Mel said to no one in particular as she rubbed behind Leo's ears. He shook his head and rumbled deep in his chest before rubbing against her body, almost knocking her over.

"He's in another lab, other side of the castle," Lynn waved her left hand over the shoulder opposite shoulder. "He and Joey've got a cunning plan up their sleeve, that involves a lot of dismantling to three x-ray machines. Cid's up there keepin' an eye, they're too absorbed to care about what we're up to. We might actually be able to fit him into a single x-ray!" she gave Leo a grin over the back of her chair before going back to the keyboard.

Plagued with so many unanswered questions about his species, Lynn had suggested doing a more in-depth case study on Leo, which had been going quite well until they tried to precisely map out his skeletal structure. The front half of his skull had been x-rayed, but they lacked the right equipment to really do much else; Leo didn't fit into any of the portable machines, and any scanner that might have been big enough to image larger sections of his body resided in rooms that were simply too small for Leo to get into. It had created a rather interesting headache to work around.

"No one's blaming you," Terra grinned, rubbing Leo between the eyes.

Leo's response was to give him a loving and affectionate lick from waist to temple, and Terra stalked away rubbing his face down and grumbling under his breath. Leo made a deep guttural sound that was his equivalent of laughter, and went very quiet when Mel flicked the end of his muzzle and gave him a somewhat stern look (at least, it was stern for her).

"All right then, everyone ready?" Lynn swivelled around to address them all, and those directly involved in the experiment nodded while the others watched. Mel lifted the pole with its sensors and Leo opened his mouth wide, exposing all of his teeth in what would have been a fearsome sight if they weren't all so used to him. The second pair of canines in the top jaw, making three pairs in total, was often a cause of great alarm for the uninitiated. Mel carefully placed the instrument inside Leo's mouth, arranged so that it would hopefully get the best readings, and he slowly relaxed his jaws closed, but not quite all the way. He looked a little ridiculous with the ends sticking out at different angles from his mouth; he almost looked like a giant, feathered hamster.

"Ready when you are," Mel said to Lynn.

She nodded and turned her back to them so she could watch the screen. Into the mic set in a holder on the desktop, she said, "Ready Tron?"

" _You have a go!_ " the programme told her, his vice warped slightly by the speakers.

"Crunch it, Chewie!"

Leo snapped his jaws shut with a quick movement, and a resounding crunch was heard as the pole and all its sensors were snapped into pieces, making a couple of people jump.

"Not _literally_ ," Lynn groaned, peeling herself from her seat to go inspect the damage. Leo was trying to spit the broken bits out of his mouth, whining plaintively as he did so. "Damage report, Captain?"

"I don't think it's salvageable…" Mel murmured, prising Leo's jaws open so she could gather up all the little pieces stuck in-between his teeth.

"Maybe a rod wasn't the best thing to… 'Ang on a sec…" Lynn dived into the toolbox Cid had left for them, and almost dived into Leo's mouth just as Mel finished dislodging the last of the mangled pressure sensors. Leo tried to pull back reflexively, but stayed put with his jaws hanging wide open for Lynn and her tape measure. "We will get those readings yet!" she exclaimed, waving a hand wildly in the air while her head and shoulders remained in the dragon's great maw. She did look rather ridiculous, and a few people laughed when Leo shifted his paws and flicked his ears back, suppressing a whine that from that range would have probably deafened the Nobody

"The x-rays would be better," Rhiannon said sagely, and gave Lynn a filthy look when she demanded, "How would you know? You're not a scientist-!"

They bickered with each other over what you may or may not call yourself as a mere 'ecologist', while Mel and Ven consoled Leo and his smarting gums.

Leo shook himself down completely, starting from his head and working all the way down to the end of his tail before giving them a world-weary look. He received pats and scratches and kind words for his troubles, which made him feel a lot better. Aqua was hugging his muzzle and looking deeply into his amber coloured eyes as Mel was scurrying around the bags lashed to the saddle, when one of the straps that held it in place gave way and the whole saddle slid sideways. It would probably have swung all the way down to his underbelly if some of the straps that held it in place didn't sit around the wing joints; this stopped the descent of the saddle by snagging the front end, but the back end kept sliding further on sideways with Mel's weight. Her ankle managed to get caught in the straps of the saddlebags, which left her hanging upside down against Leo's side – not for the first time, and probably not the last either.

She just dangled there for a few moments, wide eyed like a startled rabbit, before Terra walked up to her with a smirk. He folded his arms and looked up at her as Leo swung his head around to check on her with a worried whine.

"You like hanging out, don't you?"

"You're so funny Terra, did anyone ever tell you that?" Mel said quietly, trying to reach up to undo the ties holding her in place. They were wrapped fairly tightly around her ankle and leg, which meant she couldn't cheat and just remove her boot as she had done in the past to extricate herself from just such a predicament.

"Don't quit you're day job, mate…" Lynn muttered, before adding, "You okay Melsie?"

"I'm fine,"

"Yeah, she's just getting in tune with her Bat Medicine," Ven said with a grin, climbing onto Leo's back with a little help from the dragon, and carefully perching himself on the lopsided saddle before reaching for the tangle of leather ropes and straps to free Mel's leg. It took a couple of minutes, but he eventually undid the knots holding her in place, and Aqua and Terra braced themselves to take her weight until her feet were carefully guided to the ground. Mel slowly straightened up, dusting her hands and straightening her clothes before she gave them both a nod and smile of thanks. Then she turned to look up at Ven, grinning down at them from his lopsided perch on the capsizing saddle.

"I'm not the one the Bats are hanging around at the moment."

"Oh?" Ven and Terra asked in unison. Leo snorted and shook his head, causing Ven to grab hold of the twisted saddle more securely.

"No," she went on conversationally, hugging her arms close to her chest and crossing her legs at the ankles, taking the weight mostly on her right foot with the left balanced on its toes. "That would be-" she cocked her head to one side and pointed silently over her shoulder at Lynn, standing beside the computer and looking rather mutinous. Having heard the conversation and seen the gesture, she merely waved them all away with a wordless grunt of annoyance, and went back to her work. Lynn didn't mind Mel and the esoteric – she just had more pressing matters in the physical world to deal with right now.

"So what's following _you_ around today, then?" Terra teased as Mel turned her attention to Leo.

She rubbed his jaw and he closed his eyes and grated to her. Very slowly, with great deliberation, she turned to look at Terra through a lock of hair that had fallen across her eyes.

"Wouldn't you like to know." She said cryptically.

"Okay then," Ven climbed to the edge of the saddle, and then jumped the rest of the way to the ground, bouncing to his feet with a practised ease. "Let me guess!"

Mel turned to look at him, an eyebrow twitching upward slightly, before she turned away again to scratch Leo's jaw. He hummed and grated, and then licked her face and nuzzled as close as he could to her small frame.

Ven had started playing a game with Mel; he tried to guess which Medicines and Spirits were following who around at that particular moment in time. And oddly enough, he wasn't half bad at it – he didn't know all of the many layers of meaning to each animal, but he was pretty good at guessing correctly who was hanging around which person. Mel of course didn't mind this, in fact on most occasions she welcomed it; her personal Medicine was Wolf: the Teacher. There was almost nothing she loved better than to impart knowledge and understanding, and Ven was an attentive student. However, she did mind sometimes when the audience concerned was overly sceptical of such things. Rhiannon struggled to understand, and her comments could often be taken as disbelieving. Not that Mel wasn't used to that sort of reaction, but she preferred to speak of it with people she knew well and trusted.

While Ven tried to figure out who was following Mel today, Aqua studied the lopsided saddle with a thoughtful frown. She turned to look at Terra when he said, "I think Hiccup needs to have another look at this."

"Mmm…" Aqua frowned more deeply before reaching for the clasp underneath Leo that held the saddle securely in place. Terra went to his other side to undo the buckles that held it fast around the wing joints, and it slid to the ground with a thud. "I don't want to keep pestering him with this. Hiccup has enough to worry about…" She had met the young Viking who was the head of the Berk Dragon Training Academy, who also had a flare for engineering and had built a special saddle for his own dragon that allowed him to fly despite his damaged tail. Far from inconveniencing him when they had asked if he could make a new saddle for Leo, Hiccup had relished the challenge it presented him, to build a saddle for a completely different dragon to what he was used to.

XOXOX

The day continued to be clear and balmy, though somewhat hazy as the day drew on. Plenty of youngsters were out and about enjoying their weekend, though the heat of the day had dampened the noise and activity somewhat. Except for one square in particular, that is.

Aqua made her way to the Committee's HQ to escape the chaos outside; Sora, Riku and Kairi had pitched up not long before they had left Lynn to her plotting and scheming, and they were now chasing each other and Leo around the square that was only just big enough to fit them all, and their antics. Aqua had spent some time talking to Aerith while the other three split up and went their separate ways for a good couple of hours before Aqua returned to HQ. Terra was leaning against a stack of crates, speaking with Leon and Cloud, occasionally turning his attention to the three youths and the young dragon with fond amusement.

It was…something of a training game, to keep all of them light on their feet, but it was really an excuse to just mess around and have some fun. Leo was swinging his tail and flailing his wings before taking careful stock of the available space to hand so he could buck his hind legs like a playful horse without taking anyone or anything out in the process. He had done this once before without paying too much mind to his surroundings. The net result had been one concussion, one near miss that could have been very serious indeed if the blow had landed, and a wall completely annihilated beyond repair. Leon raised his voice sharply as the dragon kicked out at thin air in the middle of the square, his quarry safely out of harms way – and he stopped to droop his wings and try to tuck his tail in as he hung his head. Terra tried to calm the situation, and Aqua thought about wading in but decided Terra had it under control. Leo whined as she continued towards the building, and he scuttled close to the ground after Kairi before licking her face and Leon relented with a loud sigh, a hand pressed to his brow in vexation.

Aqua left them to continue to frolic under the watchful eyes of their elders, and flopped onto a chair by the large table in the middle of the room.

The sofa and chairs by the hearth on the other side of the room would have been preferable, but they were covered in boxes and dusty sheets while the attic several floors above was being cleared out. While Aqua settled down to quietly contemplate her inward exasperation over her students, she noticed Mel perched on the stool of a piano that had recently been made at home here, tucked into a corner away from the door. She was looking at the door, a little crestfallen. To reliably read Mel's emotions, you had to be quite well acquainted with her; her expression and tone were always a variation of the same, soft look. Aqua had been living with her for little under a year now: the slight tilt of her head, the gentle edge to her smile coupled with the slight creasing of her brow and around the eyes with her shoulders relaxed indicated that whatever was bothering her, it had not truly troubled her.

"What's up?" Aqua asked, raising her voice to pierce through the cloud that was hovering in Mel's vision.

She blinked and sat up straight before turning round to face Aqua with one knee resting on the stool. "Hmm? Oh, just despairing over Kyo." She said vaguely, twirling a pencil with her fingers as she gazed at the window. "He demanded that we do some singing together today after we finished up with Lynn, and then he conveniently found something else to occupy himself with before we could get started." She gave Aqua what for her was an exasperated look, denoted by the slight widening of her eyes, and the slight upward tilt of the right corner of her mouth along with the same eyebrow.

"Hey!" the door swung open and Ven walked in with a grin before he saw Mel and stopped. "Hey, where's Kyo?" he asked, peering around the room and smiling in greeting when he saw Aqua.

Mel held her hands palm upwards and shrugged her shoulders high with a soft smile. "He left me all alone, with all of this sheet music…"

"Oh…" Ven looked crestfallen for a moment, but he perked up quickly and handed Aqua an ice cream that had probably been intended for Kyo. "That's too bad! We'll just have to have _all_ this ice cream he left us alone with!"

Mel perked up when he handed her another ice cream and perched on the other end of the piano stool. "Oh, such a heavy burden." She murmured, before tucking into the tasty frigid treat.

Aqua laughed and did the same. She really liked Sea Salt ice cream – it seemed counterintuitive to have something that was both saccharine and savoury in taste, but somehow the salty and sweet favours combined and just…well, worked! While she sat and pondered the deep and philosophical topic of ice cream flavours to herself, Mel and Ven chatted amongst themselves, and she eventually started playing a pretty little tune by heart with the stick of her ice cream positioned between her lips while Ven skimmed through the book of sheet music Kyo had insisted upon before he disappeared. Aqua wasn't really paying much attention to anything until she heard Mel strike up a muted but bouncy melody after a few moments of quiet.

When she heard Ven start to sing, she smiled and turned her attention towards them. Since Mel had come to live with them, Ven had discovered he had a talent for music; he could play the lyre that he had been given by one of the Mage's from the Ladonier Guild, and he was quite a good singer, although he was still practising and finding his range. Mel could play a wide variety of instruments, but she excelled at the piano and flute, and the guitar which was her favourite. She also had a wonderful voice with a wide vocal range that allowed her to sing anywhere from first soprano down to a second tenor with ease.

"All my life has been a series of doors in my face!" Ven sang, doing a little jig in time to the upbeat rhythm of the song. "And then suddenly I bump into you," he took his eyes from the sheet music to look at Mel with a grin as her hands flowed effortlessly across the keys and embellished the tune, bumping his elbow against her shoulder.

"I was thinking the same thing!" Mel spoke, before slipping into her singing voice. "Cause like – I've been searching my whole life to find my own place," she leant away from him slightly, tilting her head so that a lock of hair free from her braids draped itself across her eyes, forcing her to give him an almost coy look as she smiled. "And maybe it's the party talking – or the chocolate fondue!"

Aqua stifled a giggle. Mel was quite a sensible and poised individual, but by the Light she was capable of being as big a goof as Ven sometimes…

"But with you-!"

" _But with you,_ " Mel sang a harmony over Ven's line. "I found my place-"

"I see your face,"

"And it's nothing like I've ever known before," they leant towards each other; Ven grinning, Mel on her way there (Mel only grinned at Christmas or if she went skydiving with Leo, otherwise she just smiled with varying degrees of brightness).

"Love is an open door-!"

They sang the refrain three times, and each time Mel sang a different harmony for the last word, swaying slightly and tilting her head in keeping with the notes while Ven kept a strong, clear and carrying note. The song then called for them to insist that love _was_ an open door, "With you," several times over before they both sang the refrain again more softly. There was a pause for the music, and Mel played the gentle tune before it became more bouncy and staccato.

"I mean it's crazy," Mel began, and Ven turned to look at her with a playfully clueless expression.

"What?"

"We finish each other's-"

"Sandwiches!" Ven more crowed than sang, flinging his arms into the air, and the three of them fought not to descend into laughter; Mel didn't falter in her playing, making her eyes wide as she spoke the next line.

"That's what _I_ was gonna say!"

"I never met someone-"

Mel joined in with a harmony. "-Who thinks so much like me," they locked eyes and leant toward each other again, Ven pointing at her accusingly. "Jinx – _jinx again_!"

Aqua really did burst out laughing at the mockingly sincere antagonism they shot at each other. Mel wouldn't hurt a fly unless given severe and prolonged provocation, and Ven treated her with a gentle protectiveness that Aqua remembered bestowing upon him once, when he was much younger. Although he was more subtle about showing it than she had been… They didn't really argue so much as amicably disagree on certain subjects, and neither would push the other into real annoyance. That was more Terra's forte.

"Say good _bye_ -!" Ven sang, spreading his arms wide and leaning against Mel's side as she harmonised the line with him. "To the pain of the past – we don't have to feel it anymore," Mel punctuated the line with a rhythmic set of chords that built up to the chorus, and again she wove a harmony around Ven who held a single and steady lasting note at the end of each refrain.

The song came to a gentle conclusion, and Ven faltered when it was his turn to sing a different tune to Mel – the sudden change in his line of music took him by surprise and his voice went off key. He winced and gave Mel an apologetic smile while he absently rubbed the back of his head, trying to avoid her gaze.

"Here," Mel played the single line with one hand for him. "Try again." She played it through again, and then with him, before they went back a few bars to sing the lines leading into the final refrain. This time, Ven got it right, and Mel lowered the volume of her voice to make it a little easier so she wouldn't put him off.

They both sat back, and Mel removed her hands from the keys, and they beamed at each other before turning to look at Aqua as she applauded them. "You're getting better!" she complemented Ven as he made a theatrical bow from his twisted perch on the stool, making Mel stifle a giggle.

"I'll never be as good as Mel though," he grinned down at her and ruffled her hair up. Aqua couldn't remember who had started it or when, but people just seemed to like mussing up her hair. As ever, Mel responded by waiting for him to finish before calmly reaching up to smooth the haystack of her hair back down into its natural curls and carefully worked braids, giving Ven an expression that would have been unreadable but for the smiling light in her eyes.

"I'm sure you'll catch up with practise." She said softly and evenly, turning to close the music book. "That's all it takes, just like anything else."

The door flung itself open and Mel jumped, giving a good impression of a rabbit caught in the headlights for a moment before she saw who danced over the threshold. Her younger brother – considerably taller and copper haired but with the same brilliantly green eyes – flounced into the room with a flourish and a massive grin.

"Guess who-!" Kyo began with a crow, before he saw Ven sat next to his sister on the piano stool, and the evidence of sea salt ice cream. "You had ice cream _without me_?" he demanded, incredulity and pain in his face and voice.

Jumping to Mel's defence, Ven threw his hands up yet again and said, "We didn't know where you'd gone or how long you'd be! It would've melted,"

"Huh." Kyo folded his arms and gave Ven a hard look. Then his expression brightened and he beamed at Mel. " _Anyway_. Guess who's in town?"

"Knock it off…" came the exasperated plea as their cousin walked into the room, pushing Kyo out of the way with little patience. Tomasa was of a more compact build, with inky black hair, and again the same eyes as his two cousins. He was not as easy going as his cousins, and quite frankly Aqua didn't like spending a lot of time around him, but for Mel's sake she was happy when he was. Having been separated from them both for so long, family was incredibly important to Mel; thinking of Terra and Ven, Aqua could relate.

"Look what the cat dragged in!"

" _Kyo_." Mel said flatly, giving him 'the look'.

Kyo glowered and grumbled at her and stalked across the room, thrusting the paper bag he had been carrying at her.

"Hello Tomasa," Aqua said pleasantly, and Ven grinned and waved, saying, "Hiya!"

The young man looked at them each in turn – he always seemed mildly surprised by their politeness, and in some cases open friendliness. Sora always had a hug for his friends, or at the very least a handshake, and his continued kind-heartedness towards Tomasa seemed on some level to disturb the man. Mel had confided in Aqua that she thought he hadn't really forgiven himself after all that had happened, throwing his lot in with Maleficent. He was also not the easiest person to get on with under the best of circumstances, and he didn't know how to handle Sora's innately ingenuous nature that was such a polar opposite to his own.

Aqua decided the pair's arrival was her cue to leave, and Ven followed her lead to give the three of them a rare moment alone together. Kyo was Ansem's personal assistant, and he often worked on various projects for the Committee; Tomasa had been taken in by Disney castle, and was effectively now in charge of the library and record keeping; Mel had a Keyblade exam to study for and a dragon to train and feed. It was not usual to find the three of them together in the same place with enough free time to have a conversation, when their duties were split in so many different directions.

Outside, the ruckus had died down; the three youths were perched on a low wall at the far end, munching on cake and sipping what was probably barley tea. Terra was holding a cup and taking very small sips in the warm weather. It was a staple of Aerith's hospitality, and because she was stood nearby scratching Leo's ears while he thumped his tail against the ground – a large bone packed full of marrow in his jaws – it wasn't hard to guess what everyone was drinking.

Terra nodded in their direction as they joined him, blowing on his hot drink, not wanting to put Aerith's kindness to waste. "We'll be a while, I think," he nodded at the front door of the building, and Aqua hummed her agreement, accepting a mug of tea and trying to duck when Ven came after her with a slice of cake.

Conversation was slow but easy going for the most part, until Rhiannon and Lynn arrived; they struck up conversations with the others until Lynn's old friend, a Mage from one of the Guilds, showed up bursting with news. Rosie was a plain looking sort of woman, and apart from her incredibly long hair and fine flint-grey eyes, she wasn't much to look at. Until she smiled, that is; it lit her up from the inside, and even when her expression relaxed it left a lingering impression on her countenance. Today, she was beaming.

"Hello!" she said rather excitedly, reaching for both Terra and Aqua to hug them in greeting. They both responded warmly, and she drew back, smoothing her hair back from her face, practically squirming with delight. "Have you see-? Oh, Lynn!" she waved the Nobody over impatiently, rather uncharacteristic for her.

"Bloody hell, did y'find the winning numbers?" Lynn asked, running a hand through her own short, lopsidedly scruffy looking hair, appraising her old friend with a raised eyebrow.

Rosie shook her hands and made a little bob, barely able to contain herself. "You will _never_ guess what!"

Lynn gasped dramatically and grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her. "Samira went to a natural history exhibit of her own free will?" Well Rosie shook her head, biting her lip, she went on. "Christ – you found out where Mike is?"

"What? No- oh, well, _yes_ actually, but-"

"Where the _feck_ is he then?"

Rosie and Evie (Lynn's Somebody) had attended the same university in the Mage's home World; they had shared a student house together with three other people, one of them Evie and Rhiannon's fellow Keyblade Master. Of the five, only Rosie and Samira had stayed in close contact – Lynn had gotten herself into a sticky situation, no one was entirely sure where Master Kenneth was except he had gone on some shamanic retreat that involved a deep sleep meditation, and the other man appeared by all accounts to have a spontaneous and impulsive nature. Post cards kept appearing in the mail with exotic stamps and very little information on where he was and what he was actually doing.

"Oh," Rosie waved this away like it wasn't of much consequence, and said succinctly, "He's in Argentina at the moment, en route to Siberia via Peru providing tech support for a research team looking into meteorology."

Lynn held her still for a moment before letting go and making as though to turn and sweep away grandly, hands in the air as she muttered, "No further questions your honour." Folding her hands behind her back, and looking shrewdly over her shoulder in a gesture that for a moment strongly reminded Aqua of Master Eraqus. "Don't suppose you seen Kenno around, then?"

"No sorry." Rosie's spirits were dampened for a moment, but she brightened again almost instantly. "Want to try again?"

"I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition to follow me out here! Just come on and tell us!" Lynn said, throwing her hands into the air in exasperation.

Rosie let the silence drag for a moment, but it was too much for her to contain, and she said with a huge grin, arms thrown wide in celebration, "Erin's pregnant. I'm going to be an aunt!"

Lynn stared at her for a moment before they fell into a chorus of girlish squeals, and she flung her long, thin arms around the Mage. "That's wonderful!"

"Congrats!" Ven beamed, raising his mug to the expectant mother.

"Oh my God! So – Alan got that flat then?" Lynn demanded to know. It had been mentioned in conversation a while ago about the goings on in Rosie's family, and Aqua was aware of her eldest brother's struggle to find accommodation.

"There's a story to that, I'll tell you later. Erin's parents are helping with the deposit, hopefully they can be moved in within a couple of months. Our…great-aunt Sophie said she would put some money down to help with baby expenses…" she gave a wry smile at the look Lynn gave her. She had told Aqua about her infamous great-aunt on her father's side, and she felt a sense of foreboding. Rose, as well as two of her four brothers, was adopted at an early age – and great-aunt Sophia never let anyone forget that they were not 'natural' family members whilst making a fuss over the two boys who _were_.

Lynn responded to this news blankly with, "Run, run, run the feck away _run_ …"

Rosie laughed as Lynn pretended to indeed run away from the idea, and to Terra's questioning look she explained, possibly for the second time, "My father's aunt always has a string attached to her favours. My brother does need the money, however, almost everyone on either side of the families involved have counselled against it…I'm sure between us we can work something out…"

Terra nodded with dim recognition, but turned aside from the conversation in favour of letting Aqua quiz her on the details. Maybe it was just because he was a man, and didn't really understand women, but he often viewed what Rosie and Aqua did as exchanging gossip, which didn't interest him. True, Aqua had yet to meet Rosie's family of whom they spoke about so much, but she was greatly inclined to like one of the younger brothers, called Eric. He and his brother David had the same medical condition that Rosie had had, that she had managed to self medicate her way out of (at something of a risk to her permanent long-term health, but lacking any other real options) and that due to a combination of money and politics, was incredibly hard to diagnose and properly treat in their World. After everything Rosie had done to help Leo with various injuries he had sustained over time, Aqua felt the least she could do was in turn help her with dispensing herbal remedies. The Mage's forte lay in augmenting healing magic with herbal medicines, and together they made up teas and tinctures that alleviated certain symptoms and supported the body through intense antibiotic regimes. This usually meant encapsulating dried plants like milk thistle and bagging up combinations of herbs for teas. It was fairly easy but time consuming work that left a lot of room for animated conversation.

When Eric had heard who had made his teas and capsules, he had gone to the trouble of making a thank you card and baking some biscuits for Aqua in gratitude – which considering his limitations, was very touching indeed. She was very much inclined to like him. The rest of Rosie's family were interesting to hear about; she was one of about thirty-five first cousins alone, and they lived all over the place in different countries and followed different cultural practises that Aqua loved to hear and learn more about. You didn't need to belong to a Guild or travel between Worlds to find such rich cultural diversity.

By the time Mel came outside with Tomasa and Kyo, they had almost exhausted the topic of babies and pregnancy; Ven and Terra managed to sneak away when the women got really fired up over the subject matter, along with Rhiannon, though Kairi floated over to join in. When Mel arrived Rosie made a beeline for her and imparted her news with Lynn draped over her shoulders, still doing a little jig of glee and calling for people to bring 'Aunty Rose' more tea and cake. They started discussing the probability of Mel acquiring some supplies for Rosie's little niece or nephew. Rosie had a future claim on Mel, which she tried to invoke to ease the obligation to her – and of course Mel flat out refused, because it was for the benefit of Rosie's brother and his child, not her own.

While they fell into the ritual of haggling, something Rosie was not especially good at, and that Lynn had to step in and start haranguing on her behalf so that neither party involved was fleeced, Terra moved back to Aqua's side and slung an arm casually around her. She leaned into his touch, and smiled when she felt his lips brush against her hair.

"That's wonderful news!" Ven was saying as he grinned at the proceedings, walking past on his way to find more cake.

"We need to celebrate!" Sora crowed loudly, beaming at Riku when he hung his head and turned aside with a heavy sigh.

"Boys…" Aqua said flatly before they could start at each other; she had to smile as the pair of them went scampering off to find more ice cream.

Aqua continued to sip her tea and watched vaguely as Rosie and Mel moved to where Leo was sat at the edge of the square. Rosie had a deeply ingrained fear of dragons, but she was much more comfortable around Leo now, and showed little sign of fear as she ran her hands along one of his forelegs, checking a well healed wound. A woolly rhino had gored him a few weeks back during a scouting exertion, and she had been the one that had sewn him back up again afterward. Terra called over to them to ask her verdict, and Rose gave them a double thumbs up before turning to talk to Mel. Leo very carefully and very gently nuzzled Rosie in greeting, then slowly swung his head back round to Mel – who he licked along the length of her body, grating and whining to let her know of his affections. Rosie stiffened under the attention, but her smile was genuine, and she relaxed when he moved on to Mel.

"Do you want a family, some day?" Terra asked out of the blue.

Aqua looked up at him in surprise, but he was watching Leo nuzzle up against Lynn, almost knocking the poor woman over; she was very tall and very willowy in build. Rhiannon always insisted a stiff breeze could knock her down; she certainly had trouble keeping her balance on the odd occasion Leo felt the need to beat his wings in her general direction, to much hilarity.

"Do you?" Aqua countered, flushing and caught completely off guard. It wasn't something they had really discussed… They were engaged, and hadn't really talked much about the wedding yet either. They needed to get more organised…

"Answer me first." Terra said, turning his gaze to her and holding it intently.

Aqua thought for a moment how best to phrase what she wanted to say, and wet her lips before continuing. "I'd like it, a lot. If you wanted…"

Terra's answering smile made her heart melt like butter. "I'd like that, too." He leant down to kiss her mouth, and she responded in kind, holding his face in her hands and lingering for a few glorious moments while the rest of the world ceased to exist to them. When they drew apart they stayed a while longer, leaning their brows together, enjoying the closeness.

"I'd like that… A pretty little girl with blue hair, like her mother."

Aqua was so surprised by this statement she didn't respond when he kissed her again, and flushed deeply when he drew back to give her a quizzical look. He poked her until she confessed, "I'd imagined a boy…with dark hair…" _That_ had Terra stunned and speechless for a change, which made her laugh. "And a natural talent for getting into trouble!" she added, giving his hands a squeeze and smiling at him. "I wouldn't really mind, either way. As long as they were healthy…"

Maybe it was something to seriously consider? They had no students in the traditional sense; Lea and Mel were both adults, and the former was learning also under Yen Sid. Sora and Riku only needed brushing up in certain areas like histories, and Kairi was learning jointly from them, Yen Sid and Aqua and the others. She supposed she could pick someone to take over from her, to be the custodian of the Land of Departure and train the next generation of Keyblade Masters… Mel would be a good candidate – she was the Dragon Keeper, and she would need a lot of space if she were to care for more than one dragon. The castle and the surrounding lands could support them; wide areas to exercise, clear air space to fly in, plenty of edible plants and roots if you knew where to look, and good hunting grounds.

Aqua took a startled step back when Terra looked up sharply and unexpectedly rushed forward, bundling her into his arms. She heard the familiar snapping of jaws, and when Terra let go of her so she could see more clearly, Aqua saw Leo peering down at them, with a meaty looking bone in his mouth. She heard his tail thumping against the ground, and turned to look at Lea who had his hands in the air and a smirk on his face, clearly having just thrown the bone to the dragon.

"Sorry!"

"Watch it!" Ven chastised him, and got annoyed when Lea turned his smirk onto him and poked him between the eyes, speaking too low to be heard from this distance, but obviously saying something that vexed Ven further. They started bickering while Lynn and Mel led Rosie away, who looked a little ashen and had both hands over her heart. Considering the way Terra had reacted, Leo must have suddenly bounded across the square in a couple of strides and jumped to catch his quarry – no wonder Rosie looked spooked.

Terra exhaled with exasperation, and gave Leo a shove when he tried to rub up against his side in apology. Aqua scratched him under the jaw, and Leo dropped his bone long enough to nuzzle her and lick her cheek before he snatched up his prize and bounced to a corner where he would be out of everyone's way, and started cracking the bone open to get at the marrow inside. They were, of course, used to his ways, having known him from a hatchling that could fit into your arms, so the sounds of crunching bones had little effect on them. Rose, on the other hand… In the end Lynn dragged her away from the square, taking a longer route to avoid Lea. The man had an air of not noticing or caring, but once Lynn was gone he turned to look in her direction, not acknowledging Rhiannon's scowl.

Ven caught Aqua's eye, before looking at Terra, and the pair of them shrugged at each other. Mel walked over, covertly watching Lea and looking pensive. Leo just sat there munching his way through his bone.

"They're still fighting?" Terra asked, and the three of them all sighed and expressed their exasperation by folding arms, leaning hands against foreheads, or throwing them up in the air. "What?" he demanded as Mel snapped her fingers to get Leo's attention, and then made a gesture to let him know what she wanted of him.

Leo heaved himself to his feet and paced over to them, cracked bone in mouth. "It's not a fight." She said, motioning Leo down. He lowered his head so they were eye to eye, and she put her hand under his jaw. This way, she lead him from the square towards the market place, his head hanging over her shoulder and his shadow dwarfing her form.

When Terra turned to Ven, completely nonplussed, the younger man said with exasperation under his breath so Lea wouldn't hear, "Relationship issues! Haven't you been paying attention?" he stalked off after Leo, drawing level with the end of his swishing tail before jumping onto it and climbing quickly up onto his back. Leo raised his head long enough to turn and check who it was, and slowed his pace to make it easier for him to negotiate the way up his spine.

"But…I thought they _weren't_ going out?" Terra said, a little loud given the subject matter and audience to hand.

"Come on," Aqua said, grabbing his arm and dragging him after the others.

"But-?"

" _Later_." She said pointedly, and dodged into Leo's shadow where hopefully Lea wasn't looking.

Perhaps, there were a few things that needed dealing with, before she thought more seriously about children. Lea may be an adult, but Aqua was still responsible for him to a certain extent. Lynn and Rhiannon weren't her problem, but she still owed it to them as a friend…

"Hah!" Ven ran along Leo's back to his neck, and the dragon grunted and lowered his head close to the ground so Ven could run along his neck and vault expertly from his head to the ground, landing cat-like and springing to his feet in one fluid movement. Mel stopped in her tracks, and turned so she was sideways on to Aqua and Terra bringing up the rear as Ven jogged in a circle around her.

"Show off." She said simply and quietly.

"You're just jealous cause I don't get tangled up!" Ven grinned, almost skipping in his exuberance.

"It doesn't count – Leo's not wearing his saddle." Mel pointed out softly, pointing to Leo's back. "You're cheating,"

Ven took a playful swipe at her; even if she hadn't ducked his hand would have passed right over her head. He went for her again, but she stepped lithely out of his way, and thus they started playing an elaborate game of tag that ended with Ven winded on the end of Leo's snout as he failed to move fast enough and collided with him.

"Come on you three," Aqua said, letting go of Terra's hand to chivvy them all along.

"He started it," Mel murmured quickly, pointing at Ven before he could get a word in edge ways.

He made a sound of derision before saying, "Just cause I'm better at-!"

"Enough!" Aqua tried and failed to imitate Master Eraqus and inspire obedience with a single commanding look.

"But he _did_ start it," Mel put in, and ducked out of the way as Ven tried to chase her under Leo's neck, laughing as they went.

"I don't care if he _did_ start it. I'll finish it!" Aqua threatened, smiling with exasperated amusement all the same.

As they continued to amble down the road to the main market, Mel and Ven continued their game of tag, trying to evade Leo as he bent down and nuzzled at their hair and tried to get in the way, adding his guttural chuckle to the sound of their laughter. It ended with Ven breaking into a sprint, yelling, "Bet you can't catch me!" and Leo rearing onto his hind legs with a roar to the challenge before he dived forward and easily out stripped Ven all the way to the next square.

Mel threw her hands up in defeat but ran after them anyway, muttering, "Not fair, _not fair_ ," under her breath as she went. She wasn't built for sprinting.

Terra took a breath and held it for a moment, as though checking his words before he spoke. Aqua gave him a questioning look, and he looked at her playfully.

"If you want to become a mother, maybe you should work on being a bit more commanding first…"

Aqua gave him a small shove, but laughed all the same. Leading this particular band was like herding geese most days. Terra reached for her hand again, and she didn't push him away. She leaned into him, and they stood there for a moment in silence. Then-

"No rush. Right?"

Aqua smiled up at him. "No rush."

"Come _on_!" Ven yelled from down the road, waving them forward impatiently. Leo was standing on his hind legs, braced by his tail and keening loudly for them. Mel was hunched over against a wall, probably out of breath.

Terra turned to Aqua with a theatrical shrug, and they walked on together at their own pace while Ven waited impatiently for them.

"Don't know what you're waiting for," Terra said somewhat flippantly when they finally drew level, Ven giving him a withering look, arms folded petulantly. "We've got _all_ the time in the world!" there was a long moment of serene quiet, in which Terra made quite a tranquil picture; he looked so calm and confident. Then, Leo jumped forward, croaking and demanding attention, and knocked Terra right off his feet.

They all fell about laughing, more at the expression on his face than anything else, especially when Leo impeded his movements so he couldn't get up.

"Leo, you pest!" Mel said, trying in vain to move his head off Terra's chest. "Up!"

"You said it yourself, Terra." Aqua said mildly, fighting to keep a straight face. " _All_ the time in the world." She caught Ven's eye, and they had to hold each other for support as they laughed until their sides hurt.

Mel was crouched on the ground by Leo's head, where he had pinned Terra to the cobblestones. She looked up and ran a hand through her long, dark blonde hair, giving them an ironic look for her, green eyes reflecting the light from around them.

"You're not helping." She said simply.

Aqua and Ven weren't the only ones to receive a scowl when Leo eventually let Terra up, avoiding his whines of appeasement and affectionate licks with disgust. He would relent eventually, but for now he was determined to be in a black mood with the lot of them.

XOXOX


End file.
